Under the rubric of "it's my blog and I shall post what I like":
Monday, December 10, 2007
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Of Shoes and Ships and Sealing Wax, of Internety Memes....
As some may have noticed, this blog has gone from the mad, frenzied, post-or-two-a-day affair that it once was to more of an occasional post board for ideas and occasional new releases of possible interest to one or two. I find this a comfortable state of things as, though I do sit down at the keyboard for an hour or so a day, that activity creates but rough drafty things that I really don’t care to share with the general public. A blog might be a non-professional, and in my case anonymous, forum, but nonetheless I feel a certain need to not just post pure blather. Though, I admit, what festoons these electronic pages is oft just that!
Well away, it does take a certain amount of time to write even the nonsense I post here, and the presence of a post general means that I’ve had a bit of time on my hands. Such is the happy state of affairs today for the second morning in a row. Yesterday, I popped over to Second Life in my AM and finally got to a fair number of projects that I had been truly meaning to get around to. I put up three new 17th and 18th century outfits I had promised long ago to the Duc et Duchesse du Languedoc, of the Languedoc sim.
.jpg)
I finally followed up with the uniform for the Middlesea Fleet, which Mr. O’Toole has graciously over praised on his blog.
http://hiberniaskids.blogspot.com/2007/12/caledon-middlesea-fleet-uniform-arrives.html
And I went about my various land holdings, cleaned them of prim litter and put a few more quarters in the parking meters.
I don’t know how much longer I will enjoy this state of things, so I am restraining myself from over committing. Besides, I still have a number of projects such as dual saddles for the centaurs and flying horses, a cavalry marching device, scripting for the Sky Galleon (I shall be incorporating the combat system that MrBunwah Murakami uses for his excellent Civil War Ironclads), and a bit more building for my part of the Penzance airfield. Oh, and probably more Versailles dresses. I love sacque dresses, what other excuse can I offer for creating a full line of obscure historical outfits? Just to be fair, I need make a justacorps for the fellows, too.
I must confess, the impetus for writing another entry today by Her Grace Eva Bellambi, Duchess of Loch Avi. No doubt, by now you have heard of the internet meme (if that is the word) about the eight little facts. Copied from Her Grace’s blog, here are the rules:
(1) Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
(2) People who are tagged need to write a post on their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules.
(3) At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
(4) Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog
And thus, I find myself “tagged” by the aforementioned peer. But I find that I am unable to speak of trivia about myself without indulging first in the obligatory post rez day introspection first. To wit, this is the first entry after I became one year old in SL Terms. And thus, I find myself stymied with a bit of writer’s block about the whole affair. I mean to say, I have this overwhelming feeling that I should be saying something important. SL is such an amazingly strange experience—a year really does feel like five or six. I want to write about each and everyone of you, about the creative projects we’ve done, about the sillyness we’ve seen and created, and all the times we’ve laughed (I rarely type “LOL”, but I have done so on more than one occasion). And too, I think of the very real truths many have shared with me, the bareness of our souls that I believe is hard to reproduce in the “real world” where we wear our day to day masks. If I have laughed at my keyboard, sometimes I have cried too. But, I honestly believe that to be a good thing.
Yet, I am unable to speak of any of that right now. Perhaps I have no head for profundity. I may simply have to do a blog photo montage sometime, and hope my silly snapshots speak for me better than my poor fingers can explain. In the meantime, I suppose Her Grace is right. I ought return to whimsy, with a dollop of self revelation.
So, cutting that little preamble short, here are eight random facts about myself:
1) I was born in the United States on the east coast, but have lived mostly in the middle of the country and the southwest, with only the odd summer abroad. My accent is therefore the typical nasal twang that you might expect. I do not speak in quasi 19th century dialect in my day to day life. But my internal narration voice (come now, you have one too) speaks in a sort of circa-1900 Received Pronunciation, coloured by a touch of Yankee. I suspect it has to do with my love of pre WWII literature, but I do have to keep a check on it lest I start trying to talk like that in earnest. My coworkers find me eccentric enough.
2) That one was long, wasn’t it? How about this: I own, or rather live with, an Alsatian mix that I found at the shelter. I live in a one bedroom flat, but she had the BIGGEST brown eyes, you see. Fortunately, there is usually someone around to take her for multiple walks every day.
3) I wasn’t an avid bicyclist until I made my penny-farthing in Second Life. Then I decided if I enjoyed something virtual, it might be worth pursuing in Real Life (sadly, I can’t afford horses). A year later, I ride about ten to fifteen miles every day that I am home.
4) Despite this, I could stand to lose 10 to 15 pounds :( My favorite chocolate is Cadbury’s Fruit and Nut, which is one of the few English candy bars readily available near where I live: there’s a liquor store that carries it and is open to midnight. *sigh* Well, if it wasn’t that, it would be something else. Back on the bicycle!
5) I own an absurdly authentic late Elizabethan outfit. Linen cap, wool hat, fulled wool jacket, linen kirtle with buckram boning, linen chemise, wool overdress with cartridge pleating. It’s trimmed with bits of silk, wool piping, and lace (machine lace with cotton thread, I’m afraid). Internal seams were done on a machine, but all visible stitching was done by hand, using linen thread I waxed with beewax. Yes, I did it all myself. I will likely never do anything like that again.
6) I once was in an surplus Russian aerobatic airplane and we “pulled” eight and a half positive and three negative “gees”. I will likely never do anything like that again.
7) I stopped watching television when I was about ten. I have never owned a television. I have not been to a movie theatre this year. Yet, I’m hardly “pure” as I watch at least five or so DVDs a month on my computer and am addicted to flash videogames like the ones on the Ferry Halim site: http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/
8) Despite my affection for historical fashion, I am a complete frump in day to day life. I honestly can’t remember the last time I bought any new clothing item that didn’t come in a little plastic package. My mother, on the other hand, was a model in her early twenties, and has commissioned outfits from designers. Let us just say there was some tension regarding that growing up. No, I haven’t told her I’m a virtual designer. She would take it as a victory, and as much as I love her, I can’t bear it when she gloats.
There you go! Hope that didn’t shatter anyone’s image of me. Now then, I am told I have to name others. Of course, being late to the party, it seems EVERYONE I know has done this already. Well, we shall just have to hope at least some of the following people have not :):
Miss Zoe Connoly, Miss Terry Lightfoot, Professor Alphonso Avalanche, Miss Fuschia Begonia, Mr Roy Smashcan, Mrs Nabila Peterman (nee Nadir), Mr. Ged Larsen (known to Caledonians as the inventor of the LoopRez), and Miss Cy Vandeverre.
Well away, it does take a certain amount of time to write even the nonsense I post here, and the presence of a post general means that I’ve had a bit of time on my hands. Such is the happy state of affairs today for the second morning in a row. Yesterday, I popped over to Second Life in my AM and finally got to a fair number of projects that I had been truly meaning to get around to. I put up three new 17th and 18th century outfits I had promised long ago to the Duc et Duchesse du Languedoc, of the Languedoc sim.
.jpg)
I finally followed up with the uniform for the Middlesea Fleet, which Mr. O’Toole has graciously over praised on his blog.
http://hiberniaskids.blogspot.com/2007/12/caledon-middlesea-fleet-uniform-arrives.html
And I went about my various land holdings, cleaned them of prim litter and put a few more quarters in the parking meters.
I don’t know how much longer I will enjoy this state of things, so I am restraining myself from over committing. Besides, I still have a number of projects such as dual saddles for the centaurs and flying horses, a cavalry marching device, scripting for the Sky Galleon (I shall be incorporating the combat system that MrBunwah Murakami uses for his excellent Civil War Ironclads), and a bit more building for my part of the Penzance airfield. Oh, and probably more Versailles dresses. I love sacque dresses, what other excuse can I offer for creating a full line of obscure historical outfits? Just to be fair, I need make a justacorps for the fellows, too.
I must confess, the impetus for writing another entry today by Her Grace Eva Bellambi, Duchess of Loch Avi. No doubt, by now you have heard of the internet meme (if that is the word) about the eight little facts. Copied from Her Grace’s blog, here are the rules:
(1) Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
(2) People who are tagged need to write a post on their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules.
(3) At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
(4) Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog
And thus, I find myself “tagged” by the aforementioned peer. But I find that I am unable to speak of trivia about myself without indulging first in the obligatory post rez day introspection first. To wit, this is the first entry after I became one year old in SL Terms. And thus, I find myself stymied with a bit of writer’s block about the whole affair. I mean to say, I have this overwhelming feeling that I should be saying something important. SL is such an amazingly strange experience—a year really does feel like five or six. I want to write about each and everyone of you, about the creative projects we’ve done, about the sillyness we’ve seen and created, and all the times we’ve laughed (I rarely type “LOL”, but I have done so on more than one occasion). And too, I think of the very real truths many have shared with me, the bareness of our souls that I believe is hard to reproduce in the “real world” where we wear our day to day masks. If I have laughed at my keyboard, sometimes I have cried too. But, I honestly believe that to be a good thing.
Yet, I am unable to speak of any of that right now. Perhaps I have no head for profundity. I may simply have to do a blog photo montage sometime, and hope my silly snapshots speak for me better than my poor fingers can explain. In the meantime, I suppose Her Grace is right. I ought return to whimsy, with a dollop of self revelation.
So, cutting that little preamble short, here are eight random facts about myself:
1) I was born in the United States on the east coast, but have lived mostly in the middle of the country and the southwest, with only the odd summer abroad. My accent is therefore the typical nasal twang that you might expect. I do not speak in quasi 19th century dialect in my day to day life. But my internal narration voice (come now, you have one too) speaks in a sort of circa-1900 Received Pronunciation, coloured by a touch of Yankee. I suspect it has to do with my love of pre WWII literature, but I do have to keep a check on it lest I start trying to talk like that in earnest. My coworkers find me eccentric enough.
2) That one was long, wasn’t it? How about this: I own, or rather live with, an Alsatian mix that I found at the shelter. I live in a one bedroom flat, but she had the BIGGEST brown eyes, you see. Fortunately, there is usually someone around to take her for multiple walks every day.
3) I wasn’t an avid bicyclist until I made my penny-farthing in Second Life. Then I decided if I enjoyed something virtual, it might be worth pursuing in Real Life (sadly, I can’t afford horses). A year later, I ride about ten to fifteen miles every day that I am home.
4) Despite this, I could stand to lose 10 to 15 pounds :( My favorite chocolate is Cadbury’s Fruit and Nut, which is one of the few English candy bars readily available near where I live: there’s a liquor store that carries it and is open to midnight. *sigh* Well, if it wasn’t that, it would be something else. Back on the bicycle!
5) I own an absurdly authentic late Elizabethan outfit. Linen cap, wool hat, fulled wool jacket, linen kirtle with buckram boning, linen chemise, wool overdress with cartridge pleating. It’s trimmed with bits of silk, wool piping, and lace (machine lace with cotton thread, I’m afraid). Internal seams were done on a machine, but all visible stitching was done by hand, using linen thread I waxed with beewax. Yes, I did it all myself. I will likely never do anything like that again.
6) I once was in an surplus Russian aerobatic airplane and we “pulled” eight and a half positive and three negative “gees”. I will likely never do anything like that again.
7) I stopped watching television when I was about ten. I have never owned a television. I have not been to a movie theatre this year. Yet, I’m hardly “pure” as I watch at least five or so DVDs a month on my computer and am addicted to flash videogames like the ones on the Ferry Halim site: http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/
8) Despite my affection for historical fashion, I am a complete frump in day to day life. I honestly can’t remember the last time I bought any new clothing item that didn’t come in a little plastic package. My mother, on the other hand, was a model in her early twenties, and has commissioned outfits from designers. Let us just say there was some tension regarding that growing up. No, I haven’t told her I’m a virtual designer. She would take it as a victory, and as much as I love her, I can’t bear it when she gloats.
There you go! Hope that didn’t shatter anyone’s image of me. Now then, I am told I have to name others. Of course, being late to the party, it seems EVERYONE I know has done this already. Well, we shall just have to hope at least some of the following people have not :):
Miss Zoe Connoly, Miss Terry Lightfoot, Professor Alphonso Avalanche, Miss Fuschia Begonia, Mr Roy Smashcan, Mrs Nabila Peterman (nee Nadir), Mr. Ged Larsen (known to Caledonians as the inventor of the LoopRez), and Miss Cy Vandeverre.
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